Top clearer roll construction



p 7, 1955 F. LE R. HARLEY, SR

TOP CLEARER ROLL CONSTRUCTION Filed June 25, 1953 iy-F Fa INVENTOR LA'RO) Iva/n5); m

BY gait a 44% 4770 mvsm' United States Patent-"O 2,718, 7 TOP CLEARER ROLL CONSTRUGTION Fulton Le Roy Harley, 51;, Lancaster, S. C., assignor to Th S in Co Mil Application June 25, 1953, Serial No. 364,150

.6.Claims. .(Cl. 19.9 140) This invention relates to top clearer rolls of the type employed for maintaining top drawing rolls free from accumulations of loose fibers and the like during the drafting of textile fibers, and more particularly to an improved top clearer roll construction that is characterized by the use of a slick surfaced covering on all the spaced clearer bodies of the roll, and by the formation of the intermediate clearer bodies for floating in effective contact with the several top drafting rolls served by the clearer roll.

conventionally, top clearer rolls have heretofore been formed with several wooden body members of cylindrical shape and relatively large diameter spaced on a wood or metal mounting shaft or rod of relatively small diameter, so that the wooden body members can be disposed to ride on the top rolls in a spinning frame or the like. These wooden body members are normally each provided with a covering of wool felt or the like that has an aflinity for the fiber being drafted so that any loose fiber adhering to the top rolls during the drafting operation will be picked up by these cloth covers to maintain the top rolls clear.

Initially, the clearer roll cloth covers act directly to pick up the loose fibers from the top rolls, and then subsequently the accumulating fibers on the cloth covers make the pick up as they build up in a covering mass on the clearer bodies. It is necessary to remove or strip this fibrous accumulation from the clearer rolls at more or less regular and frequent intervals, because if the accumulation is allowed to become too great, bunches of the loose fibers tend to separate from the accumulated mass and work back into the fiber being drafted to form defects. This necessity for tending the clearer rolls constantly to strip the accumulating loose fibers results in a time-consuming and expensive operating problem. Also, a great amount of undesirable fiber waste occurs at the top clearer rolls when they are arranged in the above noted manner according to standard practice.

The top clearer roll construction of the present invention apparently operates to distribute, rather than collect, the loose fiber at the top drawing rolls, so that a high proportion of this loose fiber, especially the shorter fiber, is worked back into the fiber being drafted. As a result, there is a very material reduction of the fiber waste at the top clearers, no regular cleaning of the top clearers is necessary, and the top drawing rolls are kept much cleaner. Also, this top clearer roll construction is substantially more durable than the conventional cloth covered arrangements.

These and other features of the present invention are described in further detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation, partly in section, illustrating the arrangement of a top clearer roll incorporating the construction of the present invention and disposed for operation in relation to a stand of top drawing rolls;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, central section of the top clearer roll shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of an end clearer body taken substantially at the line 3-3 in Fig. 2; and

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2 Fig. 4 is a sectional detai 9f an intermfidiateclearer body taken substantially atthe' line 4-4 in Fig, 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, Fig. 1 showsa ltop clearer roll, as indicated generallyby' the reference nnmeral 10,"haying a series of clearer bodies, comprising end clearer bodies 12 and intermediate clearer bodies14, spaced on a mounting rod- 16' for disposition in clearing contact with a standoftopdrawing rolls 18;="the top 'drawing rolls 18 being supported by pocket bearings,asat 20, .and relatedzbuttbmdraWing rolls 22 being journalled at 24 ;for :operation :therewith. Also, a bracket support forsthe ,:top-. clearer roll mounting shaft; 16 -.is, represented at! 26.:ar-

ranged in the usual manner for a floating disposition of the clearer roll 10 above the top drawing rolls 14.

In Fig. 2, the construction of the top clearer roll 10 is illustrated further to show the relative fixed and floating arrangements of the end and intermediate clearer bodies 12 and 14 according to the present invention. As shown, the end clearer bodies 12 are bored centrally to fit the mounting rod 16 closely, and are further fixed in place by lateral dowel pins 28. The intermediate clearer bodies 14, however, are formed with enlarged bores 30 allowing them to float laterally on the mounting rod 16.

By this arrangement, the intermediate clearer bodies 14 are permitted to find a position of effective clearing contact with the respective top drawing rolls 18 independently of the end clearer bodies 12. Consequently, this effective contact is obtained irrespective of unevenness in the size of the top drawing rolls 18, such as commonly results after the top rolls 18 have been ground, and the use of slick surfaced coverings of the clearer bodies 12 and 14, as previously mentioned, is thereby made possible.

The mounting rods 16 are normally used in a size of about diameter, and the enlarged bores 30 of the intermediate clearer bodies 14 should be about A; over size.

v Spacing sleeves as at 32 and 34, having an outside diameter larger than that of the enlarged bores 30 are employed to maintain the floating intermediate clearer bodies 14 in properly spaced relation longitudinally of the mounting rod 16.

The slick surfaced coverings for the clearer bodies 12 and 14 are represented in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 at 36, and preferably consist of synthetic rubber material such as is disclosed in U. S. Patents No. 2,450,408, No. 2,450,409, and No. 2,450,410 for use as drafting roll coverings. In like manner, other slick surfaced materials, such as leather or natural rubber, might be similarly used for the purposes of the present invention, if desired; but the synthetic rubber materials developed for spinning cots and the like are preferable because they can be formulated to have the property of dispersing static electricity and thereby further enhancing the cleaning action obtained with the top clearer roll construction of the present invention. Mounting of the slick surfaced coverings 36 on the clearer bodies 12 and 14 can be made more secure and evenly disposed by providing an interposed layer of wool felt or the like as at 38.

This invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A top clearer roll incorporating more than two clearer bodies spaced on a mounting rod and characterized by a slick surfaced covering on all of said clearer bodies,

by a fixed disposition of the end clearer bodies on said,

"fixed on said mounting rod, intermediate clearer bodies of said series formed with enlarged mounting bores'for floating laterally with respect to. said mounting rod, and slick surfaced coveringson all of said clearer bodies.

3. A top clearer roll construction comprising a mounting rod, a series of more than two clearer bodies spaced on said mounting rod, the end clearer bodies of said series being fixed rigidly on said mounting rod, the intermediate clearer bodies of said series having enlarged mounting bores for floating laterally on said mounting rod, and all of said clearer bodies having slick surfaced coverings thereon.

posed on said mounting rod between said clearer bodies,

and said spacing sleeves are formed with an outside diameterlarger than the-diameter of said mounting bores.

5. A top clearer roll construction as defined in claim 3 and further characterized in that said clearer body coverings are formed of a synthetic rubber material.

6. A top clearer roll construction as defined in claim 4 and further characterized in that a layer of wool felt is interposed beneath said synthetic rubber coverings on said clearer bodies.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

